Friday, January 29, 2010

A Story You Will Not Likely Hear About in the MSM

Does anyone really know what happened to trigger the financial collapse of US and world markets in September and October of 2008? Henry Paulson was US Treasury secretary at the time, and his memories of the events appear to be vivid.

Russia’s five-day war with U.S. ally Georgia started on Aug. 8, the same day as the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Games. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told U.S. President George W. Bush during those ceremonies that “war has started,” according to Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman.

“The report was deeply troubling -- heavy selling could create a sudden loss of confidence in the GSEs and shake the capital markets,” Paulson wrote. “I waited till I was back home and in a secure environment to inform the president.”

...Paulson said he was surprised not to have been asked about the Fannie and Freddie bonds during a trip to Moscow in June. “I was soon to learn, though, that the Russians had been doing a lot of thinking about our GSE securities,” he said of his meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, who succeeded Putin in the Kremlin the previous month. _Bloomberg_via_BusinessInsider

The economic leaders of the US were clearly panicked in the early fall of 2008 by what they felt was a "near-collapse" of the entire economic system. The panic was transmitted to the US president and the US congress, who rushed a large economic rescue through in record time. I disagreed with the bailout at the time, but it was obvious that US leaders were thoroughly spooked. They acted out of desperation to "save the economy", unlike the later Obama administration bailout plans which were deliberately laid out to help Obama supporters -- and no one else.

I remember watching a news clip of Putin confronting Bush at the Beijing Olympics. Putin smirked as he walked away, and Bush appeared to be in shock. Something of an unfriendly nature was communicated between the two men. Of course, the Russian invasion and occupation of Georgia was just beginning at the same time.

The massive selloff that triggered the desperate actions of the US government originated somewhere. The idea that it may have been orchestrated by powers unfriendly to the US government is not a new one.

But the combination of economic sabotage with military aggression is precisely what one would expect from either Russia or China.

China already has the ability to temporarily obliterate the worth of the US dollar on international markets if it chooses. It is unlikely that China participated fully in Putin's scheme. But wealthy international supporters of Senator Obama's campaign for president may well have seen some benefit to their candidate, should the US economy falter in an emphatic manner, just before the election. Certainly Putin, at least, has enjoyed much more freedom of play and international influence since Obama's election -- despite Russia's economic problems and ongoing demographic and public health collapse.

The really important things that are happening every day, behind the scenes, are unlikely to ever be revealed by the media. But you can be assured of hearing everything imaginable about the sex life of Tiger Woods.